Rookie Dustin Pedroia is about to tag out Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals who was trying to steal second base in a July 18 game in Boston.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

The Blue Jays runner took off from first as the ground ball was hit up the middle.

Boston shortstop Julio Lugo, ranging to his left, made a diving stop of the ball and then made a toss to second baseman Dustin Pedroia at the bag. The throw was late. The runner was safe.

But Pedroia knew that the batter who had hit the ball was Frank Thomas, a behemoth who has been so slowed by foot injuries over the years that he runs down the baseline at a snail’s pace.

So Pedroia took the throw and, while realizing he didn’t get the out at second, still went through with his double-play pivot and fired the ball to first base. A very surprised Thomas, who clearly was expecting Pedroia to eat the ball, was safe by merely a half-step.

Pedroia didn’t get the out at first, but that play typified the Red Sox rookie. He’s always thinking. He’s always aware of what is happening on the field and he is fundamentally sound.

He doesn’t always succeed. For instance, in Sunday’s game Pedroia had a chance to move the tying run from second to third with none out and Boston down by a run to the Devil Rays. He fouled off a bunt try and eventually whiffed, and the Red Sox lost, 6-5.

But there’s a grittiness to Pedroia that the Red Sox and their fans have come to love. Pedroia may be small in stature — he’s listed generously in the media guide as a 5-foot-9, 180-pounder — but he plays hard and he plays to win without any personal “look-at-me” attitude.

He plays with a chip on his shoulder, no doubt a function of having to prove to everyone that despite his small stature he has the physical ability to match the fire to succeed and win that burns inside of him.

Pedroia rose quickly from being drafted in the second round of the 2004 draft after a superlative career at Arizona State to the big leagues by last September. He struggled after his promotion, batting a mere .191 (17 for 89) in 31 games, and he got off to a slow start this season before turning it on. And he has continued scalding the ball, resulting in a .324 batting average that has placed Pedroia squarely in the American League’s top 10.

“Everybody in the organization said he’d be fine,” Boston manager Terry Francona said the other day. “I saw him in September. He didn’t hit, but that happens. I saw him this spring. He didn’t hit, but that happens.”

Still, Francona stuck with Pedroia, whose commitment to changing some of his nutritional habits over the offseason has contributed to a more streamlined body and quickness afoot.

“The alternative would be to bail on a guy [who struggles early]. But by bailing, you lose a chance at finding a good player. That would be a mistake,” he said.

Pedroia is a good player. He certainly has been justifying the faith the Red Sox organization placed in him from the day he signed. Though he began his career at shortstop, he played both shortstop and second base in the minors. After seeing him at shortstop last September, the Sox figured he might be better off at second base, and, thanks to Pedroia’s exemplary work ethic, he has transformed himself into a quality big-league second baseman.

Virtually every day Pedroia is on the field before batting practice, taking grounders and working on subtle aspects of the position with infield coach Luis Alicea, as well as veteran utility-man Alex Cora.

The work has paid off so well that Pedroia should be a strong candidate for a Gold Glove. The Tigers’ Placido Polanco is the front-runner. Polanco hasn’t made an error this season, establishing a league record for errorless games along the way, and he has veteran status, no small factor in the Gold Glove voting.

But Pedroia, who has been charged with only four errors all year in making all the routine plays, turning great double plays and showing decent range, is a stronger candidate for Rookie of the Year honors.

He was batting .180 (11 for 61) on May 3, prompting fans to proclaim him not ready, calling for the Sox to send him back to Pawtucket and install Cora as the starting second baseman.

Since then, though, Pedroia has batted .353 (106 for 300). He has not gone more than two consecutive games without a hit since May 3, and that has happened only three times, an amazing testament to his consistency, which has vaulted him from the bottom of the Sox’ batting order to the top. And despite the huge cut he takes at the ball, Pedroia has whiffed only 31 times, making him the third-toughest to strike out in the A.L.

Pedroia, though, will be battling, among others, two teammates — pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima — for the rookie award.

Not bad for a guy who hardly was impressive in his first month in the big leagues. Or for a guy who didn’t exactly set the world on fire when he first arrived in Pawtucket in 2005.

He had a long swing. He stepped a bit into the bucket. He didn’t impress with his speed, and there was the lack of height. He looked more like someone’s kid brother, dragged along to take some swings and take some grounders on a Triple A field.

But when it was suggested to PawSox president Mike Tamburro this past winter that Pedroia might be out of his league in the majors with that uppercut, home-run-hitter’s swing, he countered that notion.

“Give him time,” said Tamburro. “This kid’s a winner. This kid knows how to play the game. He impressed me over time.”

Tamburro was right. Pedroia, as Tamburro has noted recently, has done the same thing in the big leagues that he did in Triple A — start out slowly, make adjustments and then thrive.

And when the season is over, Pedroia may very well have to create some room on a shelf for a trophy or two that will honor him for a stellar rookie year.

skrasner@projo.com